august kkoenke



(No Model.)

EL A. KROENKE.

REPRIGERATOR.. No. 349,396. Patented Sept. 21, 1886.

WITNESSES:

llll/E/VTOI? v ATTO NUS 3 5 open position.

' UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

E. AUGUST KROENKE, OF N E\V YORK, N. Y.

REFRIGERATOR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 349,396, datedSeptember 21, 1886.

Application filed July 1, 1886. Serial No. 206,782. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ERNST AUGUST KROENKE, of the city, county, and Stateof New York, have invented certain new and use- 5 ful Improvements inRefrigerators, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to an improved refrigerator for butter-stores,groceries, beersaloons, 850., in which the front doors, instead of beinghinged to the door-casings, are pivoted to the same and arranged to bemoved inwardlyin the refrigerator, so as to be entirely out of the wayand close the air-channels at the interior of the refrigerator.

The invention consists of a refrigerator the doors of which are appliedby guidegrooves to fixed pivots of the door-casing, and moved byhorizontally sliding on pivots against the supportingcleat of adeflecting-shelf below the ice-ohamber. A connecting-rod extends fromthe door to a hinged gate at the rear part of the supporting-frame ofthe provision-chamher, and opens or closes said gate, so as to close theair-channels. The door itself is pro- 2 5 vided with fulcruniedstop-pieces at the upper part,and pivoted lugs for looking or releasingsaid stop-pieces, so as to facilitate the removing or replacing of thedoor, as required.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 3o representsa front elevation ofmyimproved refrigerator, showing the doors in closed position. Figs. 2and 3 are vertical transverse sections of the same online a: m, Fig. 1,showing the door respectively in a partly and an entirely Figs. 4, 5,and 6 are details representing, respectively, the door and itspivot-connection with the door-casing and hinged shelf.

Similar letters of reference indicate come .sponding parts.

A in the drawings represents a refrigerator of that kind used bygrocers, butchers, saloonkeepers, and others. The refrigerator A isprovided with transverse partitions A, and at the 5 upper and lowerparts with the usual hinged doors, B, to give access to the ice-chamberand the lower provision-chambers, and at the middle portion with doorsB, which are preferably provided with glass panels. instead of beinghinged at one side, so as to open outwardly, are pivoted by means ofguide-grooves b b at both sides to fixed piv- The doors B,

ots bb of the casing. The pivots b b are applied to straps bf, that areattached to the jambs of the doon-casing and located near the upper partof the said casing, so that the doors B can be swung forward on thepivots in horizontal position, and then be pnshed back by being slid onsaid pivots into the refrigerator.

until the upper end of the door B arrives on asupport-ing-cleat, d, of adeflecting-shelf, D, which is located below the perforated bottom of theice-chamber C. When the door B is pushed in, it is supported in ahorizontal position by the cleat d and pivots b I), as shown in Figs. 2and 3. The door B is further connected by a pivot-link, e, with a gate,E, that is hinged to the rear part of a supportingframe, E, whichextends from the front of the refrigerator backward to some distancefrom the rear wall. The gate E is moved downward into horizontalposition, so as to rest on a seat, (1, of the rear wall of therefrigerator, when the door B is moved inwardly and supported inhorizontal position by the cleat d. When the door B and gate E are movedinto horizontal position, the air cooled in the icechamber cannot passto the outside of the refrigerator,nor the warm air enter through thedoor-opening to the ice-chamber. The warm air is also prevented frompassing to the provision-chamber below the supporting-frame E, wherebythe temperature at the interior of the refrigerator is but littleaffected by the opening of the door, even if the same should be leftopen for some time.

For closing the door B, it is first moved on its pivots in forwarddirection until the pivots I) I) arrive at the ends of the guide-groovesb I), as shown in Fig. 2, and then dropped into vertical position, so asto close the dooropening. Simultaneously the hinged gate E is placedinto vertical position by the connect ing-link 6, so that thereby thecirculation of air from the ice-chamber to the middle and' lowerprovisionchambers is reestablished.

The door B may be locked in closed position by a suitable lockingdevice. (Not shown in the drawings.) A handle, f, at the lower part ofthe door serves for conveniently tak ing hold of the door in opening andclosing the same.

The door B is provided at its upper part with ful'crumed stop-pieces g,which project into the guide-grooves b, as shown in Fig. 5, and whichserve to arrest the forward motion of the door B, and to support thedoor on its pivots I) I) when it is swung into vertical or horizontalposition. The stops 9 are locked in position by pivot-lugs g g, whichabut against the inner ends of the stop-pieces, as shown in Fig. 4..When it is desired to place the door B in position on its pivots, thelugs g are moved sidewise, so as to clear the rear ends ofthestop-pieces g 9, upon which the latter are moved into a positionparallel to each other, as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 4. The ends ofthe stop-pieces g 9 clear thereby the upper ends of the guide-grooves bb, and permit thereby the removing of the door from the pivots b b, orthe replacing of the same in position thereon, as the case may be. Bythis arrangement the cleaning of the glass panel, as well as therepairing of the door, when required, is facilitated.

By the described hanging of the doors B access is given to the middlechambers of the refrigerator (which are used most frequently) in a veryconvenient manner, and the escape of cold air from the interior of therefrigerator, and the ingress of warm air from the outside to theinterior of the refrigerator, prevented in a reliable manner, so that aconsiderable saving of ice is produced. The door B is entirely out ofthe way when in inwardly-pushed position, and can be left in thisposition for some time Without appreciably lowering the temperature inthe refrigerator, which is convenient in removing articles and replacingthe same, as the door can be kept open in the meantime.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secureby Letters Patent 1. The combination, with an ice-chamber at the upperand aprovision-chamber at the lower part of a refrigerator-chamber, of adeflecting-shelf below the bottom of the ice-chamber, a supporting-framebelow the door-opening, a doorhavingsideguide-groovesandswinging onpivots of the door-casing,-a gate hinged to the rear part of thesupporting-frame, and a connecting-rod extending from the upper part ofthe door to the hinged gate, so as to produce simultaneously with theclosing or opening of the door the opening or closing of the gate,substantially as set forth.

2. In a refrigerator, the combination of an ice-chamber, adeflecting-shelf below the bottom of the same, said shelf having asupporting front cleat, and a door that is connected byv sideguide-grooves to fixed pivots of the door casing, whereby the door canbe swung on said pivots and moved inwardly in horizontal position, so asto prevent the escape of cold air from the ice-chamber, substantially asset forth.

3. In a refrigerator, the combination, with the door-casing having fixedpivots, of a door having side guide-grooves, fulcrumed stoppiecesextending across the ends of the guide grooves, and pivot-lugs forlocking or releasing the stop-pieces, substantially as set forth.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my invention I have signed myname in pres- 7o ence of two subscribing witnesses.

E. AUGUST KROENKE,

\Vitnesses:

PAUL GoEPEL, SIDNEY MANN.

